Fallout 3: Wanderers
by Punk Season
Summary: follow Jack, the lone wanderer as he finishes his days of adventuring, finding old friends in an old home. WIP, chapters 10-20 are incomplete and I will posting their current form, notes as to what'll happen in each chapter, you're welcome to read them, and I'm looking for help finishing them. first fic,please be nice. rated T because i wasnt sure how it should be rated,may change
1. Chapter 1: the return

I've been in the Capital Wasteland for less than a year, and accomplished more in that brief time than most other living beings ever dream of, defeated the enclave, twice, liberated the Pitt, discovered the secret of Point Lookout, been through the most accurate simulation of operation anchorage, and hijacked an alien Mothership, brought pure water to the wasteland and nearly died countless times doing so, I was willing to in every case, and have been renowned as the wasteland messiah by the almighty Three Dog. The point is the righteous love me and the evil fear me. This is my story.

Chapter 1; the return

Well I had better start with my name and inventory, my name is Jack MaCleery, I'm a Brotherhood of Steel Knight from Vault 101, and so fulfill a multitude of roles, and thus I carry a custom set of brotherhood power armor, Chinese stealth armor, and Merc. Grunt Gear, as well as a Plasma rifle, the MPLX Novasurge, sniper rifle, Trench Knife, and Paulson's .44 magnum revolver. I live in Megaton, but own a room in Rivet City and Underworld. I act as a travelling Doctor and a Soldier of Steel.

I've just crawled out of the old National Guard Depot, with a new pack full of weapons, assault rifles, revolvers, batons, combat knives, a missile launcher, a minigun and the experimental M.I.R.V., as well as combat armor, and radiation suits. As I make my way back to megaton I realised Dogmeat was getting rather quiet, most likely he was hungry. So we stopped at The Temple of The Union and I gave Dogmeat his favourite food, pork and beans mixed with giant ant meat and Bloatfly bits. Dogmeats appetite would never rest, as long as the ingredients for that meal were in existence, somewhere in the wastes.

After Dogmeat finished his 'meal' and I had finished my Salisbury steak and an Ice-Cold Nuka-Cola, we headed toward Megaton and fell into bed at home, after I left my weapons in my locker and my apparel in my filing cabinet, keeping just my Chems, Merc. Grunt Gear and Paulson's Revolver, and made my way to the centre of town were a small medics tent was set up outside the brass lantern with an operating table inside, it was time to get to work.


	2. Chapter 2: the arrival

Chapter 2; the arrival

As I worked in the tent I treated dozens of Aqua-Pura caravan guards, irradiated townspeople, and even a few Molerat bites from scavvers in and around Springvale, I only charged the caravanners, simply because they were well off, but even then I gave them a cut rate.

After half of the day was done I saw something I hadn't expected, a pair of Scavvers carrying a body, a body in a blue and yellow jumpsuit, a vault dweller, like me, I ran over as quickly as possible and found that it was Butch Deloria, a Vault punk when I first left, a Vault punk and a "freedom fighter" when I came back.

He was barely conscious when he was put on the table, I quickly checked his torso and head for injuries, they were vital, arms and legs could wait. He had taken two .32 rounds through his lower torso, judging by the existence of exit wounds for every entry wound it wasn't a .32 pistol, but a hunting rifle. There was a kitchen knife lodged in his shoulder and blunt force trauma to the skull, several lacerations and cuts on his arms and legs, he had broken several ribs and his skull was fractured, this was done by raiders, almost their exact M.O. all that was different is that Butch was still alive.

As I treated him for hours I remembered much of my time in the vault. Sure he was a total douche, but he was better than half the people in the wasteland, and he didn't deserve this, very few did, slavers, Super Mutants, the Enclave, and the raiders themselves were the only ones who did. As I finished treating Butch, I opened the tent flap and got 1 beer, 1 bottle of Nuka-Cola, and two Salisbury Steaks from Jenni Stahl, then walked into the tent closed the flap and sat down to wait for Butch.


	3. Chapter 3: the awakening

Chapter 3; the awakening

As I waited in the tent, reading an issue of the D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine, I heard Butch begin to groan as he woke up. I figured he could wait while finished my paragraph. "Feeling better, Butch?" I asked, "Who the hell, holy shit, it's you! Did you patch me up?" said Butch. ' _Gees that fake Italian accent really sucks.'_ I thought, and then I spoke, "Yes Butch, it's me, and yes, I did patch you up, and honestly, you're lucky to be alive, now can you tell me two things, why you aren't in the vault, and how this happened to you, can you do that for me?"

Butch began to respond, "Well I left the vault because Amata wanted me to find you, to teach us to survive out here, once I was out I didn't much care, so I found this old school, with some messed up stuff inside, and these guys, so I tried to ask if they wanted to join my gang, the Bears, and they did this to me, so, yeah thanks, now let's head back to the vault so we can get you started." _Amata wants me to come back? After she sent me away a second time, this is unbelievable._ I thought.

"Well it's a little late" I said handing Butch the Nuka-cola and a steak, I was done my beer, and my steak, "so you'll have to stay the night, we'll go the vault in the morning, and I'm guessing you didn't bring 120 bottle caps with you, so unless I'm mistaken, you'll be staying with me."


	4. Chapter 4: the departure

Chapter 4: the departure

Butch slept in my spare room while I put away most of my gear. Once I was done with that I slept in my room in the corner of the house. When we woke it was 6:30 in the morning, the same time I usually wake up if I intend to travel.

Now we're grabbing our equipment, including some extra supplies for the inhabitants of vault 101, including a variety of weapons, armors and foods, for the vault dwellers who weren't part of the security team I brought the necessary supplies to armor their vault suits, most of them, at least.

As we exited the town Sheriff Simms and Deputy Weld sent us off, later Moira Brown joined them. Soon we were in Springvale and Butch pointed towards Springvale elementary school, "hey that's where those guys beat the snot outta me, are we going to deal with them?" asked Butch "No Butch, **we're** not, **I** am, later." Butch didn't like being denied revenge, I knew it, but he was still recovering, and I didn't have the supplies to save him again.

So we continue on towards The Vault, walking the familiar Old World road that I had walked so many times before, hoping that maybe this time, they would let me in, and only once did that happen, for all of three hours. As we walked up the hill I remembered the first time I had left, the excitement, the fear, the sadness, I thought that maybe this time, I could stay a little longer, or maybe a lot longer.


	5. Chapter 5: homecoming

Chapter 5: homecoming

We opened the wooden door into the cave, our rucksacks brushing the ancient doorframe. As we walked further, towards that door of steel, the great 101 emblazoned on the center.

I asked, "Butch, the door code please?" to which he solemnly responded, "Welcome Home." As I entered the code, I remembered the last time I had done this, so heavy hearted from my father's death, hoping to find solace amongst childhood friends, instead finding only temporary happiness destroyed by abandonment.

The door screeched open, and I stood still, un-phased, while Butch winced, when the door opened fully I stepped forward into the vault, a home built on a foundation of lies and half-truths. As I walked through the first door I was greeted by Amata, Freddie Gomez, and Suzie Mack, and the other vault residents all turned towards me and standing at a mock-salute to show some sort of admiration for someone so close to home, who was yet so strange, and who had survived in the wastes for this long.

Amata approached and announced to the remaining residents "alright everyone, we're willing to leave and Jack's going to teach us how, now were going to turn the atrium into a training area, and get started." Then she turned to me and said "They'll do what you tell them, and they've forgiven you. Now what do want us to do?" I took a moment to process what had just happened; I remembered meeting Paladin Gunny, it was time to put them through hell, so the wastes wouldn't be.


	6. Chapter 6: preparations

Chapter 6: preparations

I spoke to the residents "alright, go and get the dirt from the hydroponic gardens, we won't need it anymore, spread it out on the atrium floor, then get the heavy fans set up on each wall, then targets on the east side, an obstacle course on the west side, tables by the south, and a medical tent on the north end. I'll be back in 15 minutes, and prepare the holding cell."

While Amata divided the work, I walked back towards the door with Butch in tow. We exited the vault and left the door open, I had brought a dart gun with me with some pre-war darts, called 'horse tranquillizers, and they would put a raider to sleep for hours. I approached the Springvale elementary school, Butch close behind now armed with a 10mm pistol Amata gave him when he was supposed to be looking for me.

When we reached the front door I told Butch to stand guard while I went in, he agreed, reluctantly, and I entered, turning immediately to the left to a likely sentry position, and sure enough there was a single sentry, a man armed with a .32 pistol, wearing Blastmaster armour I loaded the dart gun, aimed for the jugular, intending to use it to more easily distribute the tranquilizer through his body, I approached to 3 meters away from him, I fired.

I landed a direct hit, the raider was shocked, looking around before falling, I moved to catch the unconscious man, so as to not create any more noise. As I dragged him back to the door, I heard the door open behind me, it was Butch, and he seemed shocked to see me carrying the man, but quickly picked up the legs and helped me move him to the vault entrance.

Once we had he asked me "so why'd we bring this prick here anyway?" to which I replied "they need to learn what kind of people live outside the vault." Butch nodded we walked in dragging the man between the two of us, one arm each. Dragging him through the vault and into the holding cell.

As I walked back to the atrium a stopped by my old apartment, and changed into my Wastelander gear, a custom blend of leather armour, a hooded cloak that was given to me by the dwellers of Oasis and an old gas mask (which I wore about my hip as it was not in use). I walked back to the atrium where most of the vaults 186 remaining residents waited for me.


	7. Chapter 7: hell day

Chapter 7: hell day

As I approached the ramshackle stage made of crates, the dwellers turned to look at me, the look on their faces was one of admiration and respect, yet also one of fondness and familiarity.

As I reached the center, I began to speak, "I fully understand that some of you may not want me back in the 101, but your overseer wants me to teach you pampered pre-war pansies how to survive, to make a name for yourself, and how to live long lives out in the wastes. I intend to do this by running you through what I am calling 'camp capital,' this training project contains 5 phases, the association phase, the adjustment phase, the assault phase, the recuperation phase, and graduation.

You are getting the easy version, in a controlled environment, I did not, I learned all of this first hand, in the wastes. You will be divided into 6 groups of 31, and run through camp capital at a rate of one phase per day over one week, the recuperation phase and adjustment phase will each take two days. The groups will be drawn up by Amata and will consist of 15 male and 15 female dwellers and one dweller to lead them. Team leaders will be, myself, Amata, Butch, Freddie Gomez, Suzie Mack, and Christine Kendall.


	8. Chapter 8: association

Chapter 8, association

The next morning at 7:00 a.m., team 1, my team, comprised of the least experienced dwellers, all between the ages of 16-19, they couldn't believe I wasn't even 21 yet. Today was association day which meant they were going to learn how to fire the weapons, wear the armour, eat the food, and walk the wastes.

I was accompanied by the other team leaders, so that they could learn what they would soon teach. I spoke to the 35 of them, "Today you learn the essentials, you will learn how to walk, to eat, to shoot, and to win a fight before it begins. Questions?" I finished.

12 hands rose, I pointed to one, and a young girl asked "what do we need to learn to eat?" As she finished, 8 more hands went down, I responded "you'll be eating food direct from the wastes, you won't be told what it is until you've eaten it, but it'll be cooked." Another hand went back up so I pointed to the boy the hand belonged to, he asked "who prepared the food" I smiled, and replied "I did, 30 minutes ago when I woke up." They seemed content with my answer.

I answered another question, an older girl with bright red hair asked what I meant when I said 'learn to walk' to which I replied, "I meant that none of you have ever walked on dirt, you need to be used to it, that's why we have dirt all over the atrium." She nodded, as did a few others.

An older looking guy, probably close to my age, was clearly discontent with my young age, asked "what are we shooting?" to which I shot back "you will shoot what I tell you to shoot, when I tell you to shoot it, at what I tell you to shoot at." He visibly recoiled, and nearly tripped.

Finally another guy asked "how will we win fights before they start?" I thought someone would be intrigued as to that, but I chose to reply simply with "by looking like more trouble than you're worth."

As they filed to the south tables I brought the food out by the trolley load, assisted by the team leaders, course one was old Salisbury steaks, one quarter portion each, as the 36 of us sat down to eat the steaks I noticed they formed into a few groups, so distinct that you could tell the 'jocks', from the 'tech geeks', from the 'mean girls', from the 'outliers'.

I allowed it for now, after all, they were all physically fit. As we all finished their heads began to look to me, as I had scarfed down the ancient meat long ago. They asked what it was, so I told them "that was a quarter portion of Salisbury steak" I paused, to savor the looks on their faces "that sat on a store shelf in the outskirts of D.C. for 200 years" their faces suddenly turned shocked and 1 of them fell over while putting away his waste.

Next was the Nuka-Cola. I handed them around and told them to "wash it down" as they did, they seemed a bit annoyed by the warm soda, after most of them finished their drinks, I told them that I'd gotten it two isles down from the steaks. They put away their trash.

"The next two are fresh meals caught within the last 2 days and prepared for you over an open flame outside the vault door." They seemed glad to hear it, but they knew nothing of wasteland wildlife.

The giant ant meat (prepared to look like steak) was handed out and promptly prodded, poked and taste tested, then it was promptly devoured. As soon as they had all finished I revealed what they had eaten, and witnessed one of the 'jocks' puke into the trash, as a few others struggled, but succeeded to keep the meal down.

For the last course I brought out wild dog, while a tad gruesome, it was effective in hardening their stomachs. As they ate it, few noticed me telling Amata not to, as well as the other team leaders, but not telling them what it was.

The dwellers ate it slowly and many did not finish, I understood why, I hated eating dog, especially when I thought back to my time in the Pitt, when I had survived for weeks on nothing but dog, sometimes cooked, others not.

I hated eating it but kept ample reserves so that a famine could be negated in megaton, and Rivet City, while Underworld and the citadel had their own reserves.

As they stopped eating I stood and congratulated them for doing so well but that I regretted to inform them that they had eaten wild dog, and that I hoped they would never have to again. They had little reaction, I didn't expect much, they'd never seen a dog before, and I'd have to bring in Dogmeat.


	9. Chapter 9: association part 2

Chapter 9, association part 2

Nonetheless we walk to the small shooting range and all picked up 10mm pistols, some N99 American models, and some Chinese officers pistols, they all provided practice. Later we moved to hunting rifles and sniper rifles, then finally to assault rifles, both American and Chinese, even a few custom Infiltrators.

After 1 hour at the range, I told them to take a 10 minutes break, then to meet me at the holding cell. After 7 minutes every one was there, and we filed in to observe the raider. as I showed him to them and described their common traits and what they did to people, I answered questions like, "how many have you killed?" and "how many are out there?", as well as "what could be worse than them?" which were answered (respectively) with, "hundreds," "thousands," and "Deathclaws, super mutants, talon company, slavers and the enclave." While they observed, I snuck in and showed them how to fight in the wastes.

As I approached the raider turned to me and swung a fist, I ducked, then bolted forward, catching him in his abdomen, and ramming him into the far wall, then I backed up, waited for his counter attack, a kick to my groin, and caught the foot, pulled it out from under him, and left the room.

As I entered the observation area, I heard the cheers of the dwellers, they saw that playing fair wasn't an option, which was good, they had that ahead of time, and I didn't.

Now it was time to show them how to dress in the wastes, I simply told them to choose from the assortment of armours I had brought with me. A few chose some variant of combat armour, one or two had metal armour, but most had leather armour.

As I helped a few into their armor, I noticed how fresh-faced they were, it was odd seeing such clean faces, happy faces, in clothes from the wastes. They appeared content, with their choices, moving around to get used to their armour. The other team leaders dispersed to individually teach their teams, following my lead my team was told to go to practice what they'd learned, or to write down any medical issues down on my medical clipboard in the medic tent. As they went about their business I left the vault to return to megaton, to get Dogmeat from my house. When we returned, the dwellers were fascinated by the lithe beast, when they asked what he was called, they were confused by the name until I told them he was a dog. As they finished I returned to my room to clean my equipment and go to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10: adjustment

Chapter 10, Adjustment

[Dwellers practice what they learned, Jack and Amata reconnect]


	11. Chapter 11: Assault

Chapter 11, Assault

[Intense training in the wastes, threat of death to either Jack or Amata]


	12. Chapter 12: recuperation

Chapter 12, Recuperation

[Dwellers recover from assault, recovery of Amata/Jack, further relationship development]


	13. Chapter 13: graduation

Chapter 13, graduation

[Dwellers celebrate completion of training, Amata and Jack begin to date]


	14. Chapter 14: the Wastes

Chapter 14, the wastes

[Dwellers explore Springvale, Jack supplies them with maps and such, Amata and Jack further their new relationship]


	15. Chapter 15: megaton

Chapter 15, megaton

[Dwellers reach megaton, encounter Gob, and Moira, dwellers bring water and food to trade with, Jack and Amata move in to Jacks house together]


	16. Chapter 16: Spread Amongst the Wastes

Chapter 16, spread amongst the wastes

[5 years later, dwellers spread amongst the capital wasteland, radios and couriers keep contact, Jack doesn't like Couriers, calls them 'Idiot Mailmen', and Jack remembers all team 1's names, Jack and Amata married]


	17. Chapter 17: Lyons Pride

Chapter 17, Lyons pride

[Jack and Amata called to the citadel, enemies approach from the south, originating in South Carolina, need name, Jack recalls his dwellers to make up the brotherhoods loss of soldiers]


	18. Chapter 18: Lyons Fall

Chapter 18, Lyons fall

[Elder Lyons passes away, enemy in the capital wastes, sentinel Lyons falls in the first battle, Jack becomes Elder, Amata is killed by the new enemy, remaining team members forms overseer council and many of the dwellers return to 101, others die in battle]


	19. Chapter 19: the End

Chapter 19, the end

[Nearly 1 year after Amata's death, capital wastes saved. Unable to cope, Jack has left the brotherhood in Arthur Maxson's hands and roams the East Coast in search of purpose, having found none, he returns to the vault, after being denied entry the final time, he sends Dogmeat with a caravan on its way to the Commonwealth, stows his gear away in the cave leading to vault 101s door, build a shelter outside the cave, on the anniversary of Amata's death, story ends ominously, as Jack placed his revolver to the center of his chest, intending to kill himself]


	20. Chapter 20: Epilogue

Chapter 20, Epilogue

[Details the long lasting repercussions of Jacks decisions, and how he is remembered in the vault]


End file.
